Shuttle-bobbin.



' J JTQMW No; 833,174. PATENTED OCT. 16, 1906.

E. M, PALMER. SHUTTLE BOBBIN.

APPLICATION FILED MAB. 1, 1906.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SHUTTLE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 16, 1906.

Application filed Mar h 1, 1906'. Serial No. 303,669.

T 0 cell whom) it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EMILY M. PALMER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Reading, in the county of MiddleseX and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Shuttle Bobbins, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to shuttle-bobbins to which thread is transferred from a com mercial spool by the user of a sewing-machine.

A seamstress frequently changes the bobbin in a shuttle before the thread on the bobbin is exhausted. Then she will wish to return to that particular size of thread, but has no means of knowing which bobbin carries the size of thread wanted. For instance, she will sometimes have No. 80 thread on the bobbin and will wish to use a finer or coarser thread, and so drop that bobbin partly filled with No. 80 thread into the drawer, and later wish to return to the No. 80 thread. If several bobbins in the drawer have different sizes of thread on them, it is extremely difficult to select the exact size wanted.

The object of this inventionis to provide a shuttle-bobbin with means for indicating the size of thread which has been transferred from a commercial spool, so that the seamstress can readily select the filled or partiallyfilled bobbin that she wishes.

To this end the invention consists in the construction and combination of parts, substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

Of the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of one form of shuttle-bob bin having a thread-size indicator on the face of one of its heads. Fig. 2 is a sectional perspective view of a similar form of bobbin, but having the indicator carried by a separate part applied thereto. Figs. 3 and 4 are perspective views of other forms of bobbins having my improvement. Fig. 5 is a view showing another embodiment of my invention. Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, partly in section, showing still another embodiment of my invention.

As shown in Fig. 1, the thread-size indicator (in this case numerals) maybe stamped with either raised or depressed characters directly upon the face of one head of the bobbin at. As shown in Fig. 2, the thread-size indicator may be impressed in or upon the face or disk I), having a sleeve or hollow stud b, by means of which said disk maybe coni nected with the bobbin a by forcing said sleeve or stud into one end of the hollow spin- 'dle of the bobbin. When the indicator is formed by depressed characters, the depressions may be filled with some coloringmatter, so as to render the characters more readily discernible. If permanently-marked bobbins, such as shown in Fig. 1, are employed and the seamstress has a supply of differentlymarked disks 1), one of the latter may be fitted to a permanently-marked bobbin so as to cover up the indicator of the latter and show a new marking. Of course the indicators are supplied with different numbers or letters, according to the size-indicators used by the seamstress.

It is to be understood that when a removable indicator is employed, such as shown in Fig. 2, it will be applied to the bobbin only when the bobbin has been removed from the shuttle, because the presence of the indicator might interfere with the operation of the bobbin and shuttle when in the sewing-machine.

Fig. 3 is intended to show simply another well-known form of bobbin, but having a thread-size indicator permanently ap lied to the face of one of the heads of the bob in.

As shown in Fig. 4, one of the heads of the bobbin may be made thicker than the other,

and a ring 0, having a thread-size indicator, may then be slipped on said thickened head.

As shown in Fig. 5, the thread-size indicator may be impressed upon the periphery of a thickened head (1 at one end of the bobbin, or said indicator may comprise a ring frictionally fitted on the ordinary head of the spindle. This latter structure is indicated more clearly in Fig. 6, in which e represents a cap fitted over one disk-head of the bobbin so as to be removable therefrom when desired.

The disk I) in Fig. 2, or the ring cin Fig. 4, or the ring or cap indicated in Figs. 5 and 6 may be composed of some material, such as celluloid, having an unpolished surface, so that the user may put the threadsize indicator thereon with a pencil or pen. In such case the user would partially obliterate the original impressed character if the attachment has been permanently marked. Of course when an attachment of celluloid or other material, such as described, is employed, its sur face may be entirely blank, but of such a nature that the desired number or letter can be penciled thereon by the user. With either embodiment of my invention the work of ICC the seamstress is facilitated, because she is able at any time to select from the practicallyfilled bobbins in the drawer the particular size of thread wanted without having to submit the bobbins to the close-inspection now necessary in order to determine or guess at the size of thread on the bobbins.

It is to be understood, of course, that my invention may be applied to any form of sewing-machine-shuttle bobbin other than illustrated, and by having the indicator with the permanent number and also provided with a space for writing a new number there- 0n the seamstress may supply temporarily the indication necessary when she has an insufiicient supply of permanently-marked b obbins on hand.

It is to be understood that by the term "thread above used and as employed in the claims I intend to include not only cotton thread, but silk thread and linen thread as well, and it is also to be understood that I do not limit myself to the use of numerals as the indicator to be used upon the bobbin,

since my invention also includes the use of other characters, such as letters and symbols, that maybe employed for designating sizes of silk, linen, or cotton threads or threads made of any fiber.

What I claim is 1. An attachment for shuttle-bobbins comprising a removable member having a writing-surface adapted to be marked to indicate the size of thread transferred thereto from a spool, said member being transferable from one bobbin to another.

2. The combination with a sewing-machine bobbin, of a removable threadsizein dicator carrier adapted to be transferred to another bobbin. 1

In testimony whereof I have affiXed my signature in presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

EMILY M. PALMER. 

